Lewis Hamilton managed to gain a few positions after his 3-place grid drop in qualifying, finishing the Monaco GP in 5th.
The 7-time Champion managed to execute an overcut on VCARB’s Isack Hadjar, whilst also benefiting from the retirement of Fernando Alonso.
After the first phase of pit-stops, Hamilton was quite comfortably running in P5 – facing no threats behind and too far back to bother the top four.
This, however, did not prevent some confusion between the British driver and his race engineer.
Not for the first time this year, Hamilton and his first line of communication at the Ferrari pit wall, Ricky Adami, were not in sync.
Hamilton still gelling at Ferrari
For slightly over a decade, Lewis Hamilton and race engineer Peter ‘Bono’ Bonnington former a winning partnership at Mercedes.
Their excellent communication, among other things, epitomised the relentless efficiency at Mercedes during their dominant years.
In fact, when Hamilton’s Ferrari move was first announced, there were reports that Bono was considering joining the 40-year-old in Maranello.
Bono eventually opted against this, though, with the 7-time Champion forced to create a new partnership.
It would be a stretch to say Hamilton and Adami haven’t enjoyed some good moments.
The Miami Sprint Race, for example, was a very well communicated event between the two parties – resulting in a top three finish.
On other occasions, however, a lack of clarity has prevented the #44 car from having smoother races.
Last weekend in Monaco became the most recent example of this awkward communication.
Hamilton explains Monaco confusion
Perhaps most bafflingly, though, there was no pressure to trigger any kind of miscommunication or confusion.
With Hamilton effectively running on his own, it would have only taken a few messages for Adami to explain the race status.
This didn’t happen though, with Hamilton instead left asking his engineer for the gap to the drivers ahead – only to receive no response.
A few minutes later, the British driver even asked if Adami was upset with him – searching for some clarity on the lack of communication.
There was no response to this request, which came during his cool-down lap after the chequered flag.
Whilst Hamilton did not want to directly address this issue post-race, he still outlined some of his question marks throughout the GP:
“I can’t comment on the rest of the race, for me I was in the middle of nowhere,” he explained to Sky Sports F1.
“I started seventh, was behind two cars for some time, managed to clear them, then I was in no man’s land after that.
“The gap was relatively big, and I was not racing anyone.
“I needed a Safety Car or something to come into play, but it didn’t happen.
“It was pretty straightforward from there.
“The information [from his race engineer] wasn’t exactly that clear. I didn’t really understand ‘this is our race’.
“I didn’t know what I was fighting for.
“Was I fighting for the next spot ahead? But in actual fact, when I looked at the data, I wasn’t anywhere near any of the guys in front.”
Main photo: Ferrari media gallery
